Hillcrest is a neighborhood in the Uptown area of San Diego near Balboa Park.
Uptown (as opposed to nearby Downtown San Diego) traditionally consists of the
neighborhoods of Mission Hills, Old Town, Hillcrest, Bankers Hill, Park West and
University Heights west of Park Boulevard.
Hillcrest is an affluent, older San Diego neighborhood, mostly residential,
featuring tree-lined streets and traditional homes. It lies between Mission
Hills and Bankers Hill on a ridge overlooking San Diego Bay to the west and
North Park to the east.
Hillcrest is known for its tolerance, youthfulness, "alternative" culture,
diversity of age and income, as well as locally-owned businesses, restaurants,
stores and cafés. Because of Hillcrest's grid street pattern and denser
developments (which are common in urban mesa neighborhoods north of Balboa
Park), pedestrian activity is high relative to the rest of San Diego.
Hillcrest is the residential and commercial hub of San Diego's gay and lesbian
community. Prominent gay bars are mostly found within Hillcrest. The LGBT
community center ("The Center") is located here as well.
The Hillcrest Association representing businesses, and the Uptown Planners
representing residents interested in planning issues, work to make Hillcrest
attractive for shoppers and residents. The Uptown Shopping Center located at
University and Vermont is considered a national model for mixed-use residential
and commercial development.
Hillcrest and Mission Hills are also home to Scripps Mercy Hospital and the UCSD
Medical Center.
Nearby Balboa Park provides recreational and cultural opportunities to Hillcrest
residents, as does its proximity to downtown with its bayfront promenade,
convention center and nightlife in Gaslamp Quarter.
Events in Hillcrest
San Diego Gay Pride is an annual celebration for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) community. Festivities take place the last weekend in July;
there is a Gay Pride parade, then a 2-day festival in Balboa Park. The route of
the annual Pride Parade runs through University Avenue to Sixth Avenue, ending
at the west entrance to Balboa Park. San Diego Gay Pride is considered to be the
largest civic event in the city of San Diego.
Hillcrest "CityFest" is an annual street festival which features food, live
entertainment, a beer garden and street vendors. This event takes place annually
in August.
Other regular events in Hillcrest include a weekly farmers market, Book Fair and
Mardi Gras.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
April 21, 2007 - Taste of Uptown Hillcrest, tickets
on sale in March 2007
June 10, 2007 - Book & Literacy Fair
August 12, 2007 CityFest arts and crafts festival. 24th anual arts and crafts
festival with free entertainment on the main stage, over 250 arts/crafts &
commercial vendors plus 2 food courts. Free shuttle service from offsite
parking areas.
Transportation in Hillcrest
Hillcrest is a walkable neighborhood with many of the cafés, restaurants and
shops near the main residential pockets. It is common to see pedestrians,
cyclists and scooters throughout the neighborhood and surrounding communities.
Centrally located within San Diego, Hillcrest has easy access to freeways,
beaches and the downtown area.
Hillcrest is served by California State Route 163 at the University Avenue,
Washington Street and Robinson Avenue exits. University Avenue and Washington
Street are the major east-west thoroughfares in Hillcrest; Fourth, Fifth and
Sixth Avenues connect Hillcrest to Downtown San Diego through Park West and
Bankers Hill.
There is substantial bus service connecting to Downtown as well as to the
Mission Valley trolley stops because of the presence of the University Avenue
and El Cajon Boulevard transit corridors, the two busiest in the metro region.
History
Initially, Hillcrest was a chaparral-covered mesa. Kumeyaay Indians inhabited
numerous villages scattered throughout the San Diego region. Spanish
colonization brought the first of twenty-nine California missions with the
founding of the nearby San Diego Mission. Presidio Park in Mission Hills, and
Old Town just down the hill, are a treasure trove of San Diego history.
In 1870, Mary Kearney obtained a deed from the city for the land that eventually
became Hillcrest. In 1871 C. D. Arnold and D. Choate, two real estate
developers, obtained that property. George Hill, a wealthy railroad tycoon, then
purchased the land. Real estate development began in 1910 and the area was built
out by 1920. During the 1920s and 1930s Hillcrest was considered a suburban
shopping area for downtown San Diego.
In 1940 the "HILLCREST" lighted sign at the intersection of University and Fifth
Avenue was first erected, then later restored in 1977 and rebuilt in 1987. After
World War II, Hillcrest was left with an aging infrastructure and population,
but by the 1970s gays and lesbians began to settle in Hillcrest and revitalize
the community.
Events of significance for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community
1970: Members of the LGBT community begin to establish residences, businesses
and organizations within Hillcrest.
1980: The Center for Social Services founded in Golden Hill in 1973 -- now
called the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, and
generally known as "the Center" --moves to Hillcrest.
Protesting the city’s refusal of a parade permit, 200 gays and lesbians march
through the streets of downtown for the first time.
1981: The first city-permitted gay pride parade is held.
1984: The Flame, formerly a supper club on Park Boulevard, opens as a lesbian
bar.
1986: Maureen O’Connor is elected mayor. She becomes the first elected official
to ride and march in the Pride parade.
1993: Christine Kehoe, now a state senator, is elected as the community's
representative to the San Diego City Council. She is the first openly
gay/lesbian elected official in San Diego.
1994: A new Vermont Street pedestrian bridge is completed. The span, featuring
public art, costs $1.2 million.
Former Mayor Roger Hedgecock heads a group of protesters calling themselves “The
Normal People”. They want to march in the Pride parade. A court denies them
permission.
1999: Hundreds of gay-pride marchers and spectators were tear-gassed July 24
when an unidentified man threw a military-issue tear-gas grenade into the Family
Matters (i.e. LGBT parents and their small children) contingent during the 25th
annual Pride Parade. The suspect has never been found.
2001: Mercy Gardens -- formerly the Sisters of Mercy Convent, which housed nuns
from 1926-1990 -- is remodeled for use by the HIV-positive community.
Local public television station KPBS airs the documentary “Searching for San
Diego — Hillcrest.” Hillcrest Business Association president Hulda “Sissy” Isham
is one of many featured individuals in the documentary.
2002: The Fourteenth Annual Open Air Book Fair moves from Normal Heights to
Hillcrest’s Fifth Avenue, drawing 5,000 literary enthusiasts.
Superior Court Judge Bonnie Dumanis, a Hillcrest resident, is elected San Diego
District Attorney. She becomes the highest ranking, openly lesbian law
enforcement officer in the nation.
2005: City Councilmember Toni Atkins, who represents Hillcrest, is elected
Acting Mayor of San Diego by her fellow Councilmembers following the resignation
of Mayor Dick Murphy and conviction on corruption charges of Deputy Mayor
Michael Zucchet. San Diego becomes the nation's largest city with an openly gay
or lesbian chief executive. She would step down from the post following the
November election of new mayor Jerry Sanders.
2006: The 32nd Annual Gay Pride Festival was held July 28-30. 150,000 people
gathered to watch The 25th Annual Gay Pride Parade. A group of six men were
assaulted while exiting the gay pride event in Balboa Park.
Four suspects were arrested a few days later. All four eventually pled guilty.
The only minor was sentenced to 10 years in a state youth detention center. Two
adults attackers were respectively sentenced to 8 and 11 years in prison. A
third adult attacker was sentenced to 32 months for being an accessory to the
crimes.